Based on the growing relevance of the Social Web, an up to date research group at the TU Dresden (MA Applied Media Research, IfK) under the guidance of Dr. Katrin Döveling (temp. Chair Media & Communication III) focuses on the question “How are emotions shared online?“. Special attention is laid on the emotion of sadness in interpersonal online exchange.

Based on explorative case studies (Döveling 2012) as well as on an extensive literature review, the question is addressed how emotions are shared, how this social sharing of emotions (Rimé et al. 1991) leads to group cohesion (Weber 1922) and ultimately potentially to a relieve of grief.

A qualitative content analysis will lead to hypotheses, which will be tested quantitatively. The central goal of the research project is the analysis of online shared emotions.

Main results will be presented at the 13th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care taking place in Prague, Czech Republic from May 30 – June 2, 2013.